Every December, the holiday classics return to television, mainstay tales like “Frosty the Snowman” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” And don’t forget those commercials where someone wakes up to a luxury car in the driveway on Christmas morning.

Except those ads aren’t just Yuletide fantasies.

Yes, there are people who give a car worth $60,000, $80,000 or more to someone special during the holidays, even rushing into a dealership on Christmas Eve. So many people give costly cars as presents that gift sales can make up 10 percent or more of December sales for luxury auto dealers, brand representatives and dealers say.

Also, yes: Those gigantic car bows are real, and they’re a crucial factor in making the sale.

“Gift cars are about 15 percent of our December business,” Chris Brunner, general manager of Park Place Lexus in Plano, Tex., said in mid-December. “We have seven cars sitting on our lot right now waiting to be delivered on the 24th.”